Last week, Novartis(NVS) completed its spinoff of Alcon(ALC). Less than a decade ago, Novartis had purchased Alcon from Nestle(NSRGY), but new leadership decided to reverse the transaction. In an article this weekend, Barron’s suggests that there is more than meets the eye to Alcon. Barron’s notes that, on the surface, Alcon looks expensive. For now, Wall Street is… Read More »
When we last checked in on Dan Loeb’s Third Point it was mid 2017 and the fund was cruising while also singing the praises of Baxter International (BAX). Unfortunately, 2018 was a rough year for the firm and performance, at -11.3%, lagged the overall S&P 500. Market Folly shares the fund’s recent Q4 mea culpa letter which offers… Read More »
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis (NVS) is considering a spin off Alcon, its surgical equipment and contact lens business. While most of its peers are busy acquiring each other, Novartis is taking a more inward-focused approach also announcing today a $5 billion share buyback. Reporting its 2016 earnings, Novartis said: “Novartis is considering options for the Alcon Division. The… Read More »
A few links for another glorious summer Friday: The activist investors at CDK Global (CDK) have a new plan to keep the star spinoff stock rising: find a buyer. The company is apparently working with Morgan Stanley to sell itself and private equity firms are apparently the target audience. That is somewhat surprising because a PE deal for… Read More »